Read Sources A and B.

1. Write briefly about what they tell you about the nature of the work undertaken by men and women in pastoral households.
2. Why do you think pastoral groups often live on the edges of forests?

Source A

Writing in the 1850s, G.C. Barnes gave the following description of the Gujjars of Kangra:

‘In the hills the Gujjars are exclusively a pastoral tribe – they cultivate scarcely at all. The Gaddis keep flocks of sheep and goats and the Gujjars, wealth consists of buffaloes. These people live in the skirts of the forests, and maintain their existence exclusively by the sale of the milk, ghee, and other produce of their herds. The men graze the cattle, and frequently lie out for weeks in the woods tending their herds. The women repair to the markets every morning with baskets on their heads, with little earthen pots filled with milk, butter-milk and ghee, each of these pots containing the proportion required for a day’s meal. During the hot weather the Gujjars usually drive their herds to the upper range, where the buffaloes rejoice in the rich grass which the rains bring forth and at the same time attain condition from the temperate climate and the immunity from venomous flies that torment their existence in the plains.’

From: G.C. Barnes, Settlement Report of Kangra, 1850-55.

Source B

The accounts of many travellers tell us about the life of pastoral groups. In the early nineteenth century, Buchanan visited the Gollas during his travel through Mysore. He wrote:

‘Their families live in small villages near the skirt of the woods, where they cultivate a little ground, and keep some of their cattle, selling in the towns the produce of the dairy. Their families are very numerous, seven to eight young men in each being common. Two or three of these attend the flocks in the woods, while the remainder cultivate their fields, and supply the towns with firewood, and with straw for thatch.’

From: Francis Hamilton Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (London, 1807).

1. The men of the Gujjars tribe grazed the cattle in the woods. They remained in woods in summer with their cattle at a height of 10000 to 11000 ft. They milked the buffaloes and made ghee for selling. The women sold milk, curd, ghee and other produce to nearby market on daily basis. The men of Gaddi tribe moved to woods with their goats and sheep to rear them. They spent their winter in the low hills of Siwalik range, grazing their flocks in scrub forests. By April they moved north and spent the summer in Lahul and Spiti. Similarly, the men of Golla tribe worked in fields and few of them grazed the cattle in nearby forests. They sold firewoods and straws in nearby markets.

2. Pastoral groups often live on the edges of forests because it allows them to graze their animals in the forest while also cultivating fields adjacent to the forest area. By residing near the forest, they conveniently handle both activities: selling milk and milk products from their animals in the local market and meeting their food requirements through cultivation.